Netflix is Heading to the Middle East

Netflix, the internet media streaming service, is planning to widen its reach by entering into the Middle East. The service is looking to target a population of 370 million, which includes a young, media hungry demographic.

John Evers, vice president and head of communications for Europe, Middle East and Africa at Netflix, confirmed plans of expansion by the end of next year. “We plan to complete our global expansion by the end of 2016. Of course the Middle East is part of that, hence our hiring,” he told the IGN Middle East gaming news website.

Starz, IcFlix, Telly and OSN Play are some OTT subscription services that already exist in the Middle East and have received a fair bit of subscribers already, which suggest that the market is ready for the big one.

Icflix was launched in 2013 and reportedly has 250,000 subscribers across the Middle East and North Africa, which include Egypt, Morocco, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. The streaming service offers Hollywood, Bollywood, and Arab content which include Egyptian productions as well.

Meanwhile, Netflix currently caters to over 69 million subscribers in more than 50 countries. Netflix is on a global expansion mode and is expected to cross 100 million subscribers in 2018. India is yet to receive the service, and we may just hear something on that front soon enough given that India has a a huge number of OTT subscribers as well.